


Inuyasha - Tail of a Different Adventure

by Hedgefox Kitsune (theshadeshadow)



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Inuyasha's an ass, infact fox dislikes the whole village, so's Kagome
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:08:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28555902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theshadeshadow/pseuds/Hedgefox%20Kitsune
Summary: My memory has been lost, form forcefully changed. I have been unknowingly stuck back in time by the work of a spirit. I must find out my place in this strange time while keeping a Half-Demon and fledgeling Mako from strangling each other while trying to find and complete the Shikon Jewel. What have I gotten myself into?





	1. Prologue

<Wake up.>

<Awaken, young one.>

<You need to arise…> When I finally opened my eyes, it was dark. That was all I could perceive. I squinted, gazing out into what seemed to be emptiness. Yet soon it became apparent that my eyes were adapting, starting to penetrate through the darkness. Watching, I could see tiny specks of light flickering in the distance, as shadows danced within the sky. Then gradually I started to make out the silhouettes of trees, the leaves swaying in the breeze and the stars shining in the twilight sky.

Turning upon the ground, a grunt came from my throat as muscles spasmed in distress as I shifted over on my side. Drawing my limbs into a half curled position, I then tucked my left side inwards, pushed upwards and soon enough managed to sit upright with a wobbly thump on my backside.

Another groan came from my throat, as tired eyes slid shut. A hand lifted up to support the right side of my head against the impending headache that was growing. Instead, I gave an almighty yelp, as a stinging bleeding cut appeared. I had unwittingly poked myself with something sharp and _almost_ into my eye.

"What in _the_?" Jerking backwards, I stared thoroughly awake at that hand. It was partly curled away from my face, as blood dribbled slowly down that one finger. The droplet was dangling off the end of a rather long and sharply curled to a sharp nail tip. My eyes watched that droplet as it slipped off and vanished into the grass below, I was somewhat troubled at the change I could see in my fingers.

' _Wait_ …'

' _Grass_?'

' _Wait, where am I? Didn't… Wasn't I someplace else before?_ '

<I have taken you from your home.>

' _Yes… The voice did say something like that._ '

' _But why, why tear me away from everything I knew and loved to this world I know nothing about. Or if I did know, then take my memories away. For I swear this place is familiar yet I can't… Oh, blast it!_ '

' _What else did the voice say. Think, think…_ '

<I am sorry.>

<He needs you.>

<Needs your help.>

<Your assistance.>

<Please, help him?>

<Not as you once were…>

<Human...>

<But remade anew.>

' _I don't think I like the sound of that_.' My eyes drifted down to my hand once more, as I raised and turned it to view the fingernails more thoroughly this time in the gradually brightening world.

Squinting, I glanced upwards surprised to see the sky gaining colours of orange, yellow, red and white of the coming morning. This also allowed me some more useful daylight to inspect the nails on my hand, and honestly, they resembled claws. Compact, rough yet sharp, curved and durable. Clearly lethal weapons if handled wrong, gentle if you have the experience to use them carefully.

Seeing them in the natural light made me swallow uneasily. I didn't recognise my hands, for these didn't seem to be my natural nails, well claws I should be calling them now actually. Whatever this voice had done to me, it had grown these _weapons_ onto me for a purpose. Though what that purpose was exactly, escaped me right this moment.

' _Ok._ _Think_.'

<Different...>

<Stronger…>

<You will learn to control your strength.>

<Your agility.>

<Your ability's...>

<And with your new-found power.>

' _That does not sound good_.'

<Protect the one I hold most dear to my heart.>

' _Protection? For who?'_

<Now go...>

<To the village near to the Bone Eaters Well.>

<That which is close to the Giant Sacred Tree.>

<There you will find him.>

<My dearest…>

_'Why me? Why is this all sounding so familiar_?'

<Remember these words...>

<Do you have someone to protect?>

'Those are the last words. Nothing more. Ok, let's see if I got this straight...'

'Village near to the Bone Eaters Well'

'Close to the Giant Sacred Tree'

'Is were I'll find the One I need to Protect.'

A sigh escaped, as I leaned backwards, hands placed behind me for balance, staring up at the blue sky with gentle white clouds. It was then I felt something rough, leathery and material like brush my arm as I had leaned backwards. Rolling my head back on my left shoulder, I blinked at seeing a satchel type object lying right behind my form as though placed there for me to fall upon.

Sitting back upright once more, I turned to face the backpack-type of satchel that was made up of old leather and durable weather-worn clothes, with twine and rope binding the material together. Tilting my head to the side, I tried to be as careful as possible with my clumsy fingers and undid the thankfully secure knot on the front to get inside the satchel.

Reaching inside the first thing I found was some seriously strong-smelling wrapped food pieces in large leaves and cloths. Clearly, they had been treated with a formula to prevent food from going off, but in the process, besides sneezing the stench near made me sick.

Lips curling I placed the packages to the side, inwardly counting the different sizes and shapes, guessing internally what they were.

Next came a small package of paper. Slipping a claw under the wax seal, I opened it and the scent of a kind of spice wafted up to my nose. Nodding to myself, I resealed it and placed it with similar paper packages next to the larger food parcels.

I then came across clothing, none of it that looked remotely familiar to my eyes. I tried to figure out some of the different parts, but the only bits that I even knew how to wear were the pants. That certainly put a smile on my face though, that was to be sure.

I also found several leather water-skins within the satchel filled with liquid, wondering if they were water I opened one. I was surprised to find they were not only water but that it tasted fresh, as though it had just been gathered.

Smiling, I tightened the cap on the water-skin and reached into the satchel to see if anything else was in the bag. There was only one other thing. Furrowing my eyebrows, I lifted it out and tilted my head in confusion, fingers rubbing into the material in pleasure at the feel as I stared at the new clothing in front of me.

It felt like fur, yet it was almost like a jacket. The sleeves were long, as was the front and sides of the coat. Yet the whole thing was light, almost breezy light, yet had enough weight in it to not drift away in the calm breeze. The entire thing was a dark blue and when I looked closer, made up of tiny interlocking scales over the entire jecket. In dusk and darkness, it would be an excellent camouflage colour if it was needed.

Reaching back inside the bag, there was a belt and trousers of the same material. They were not baggy, but not streamline either, just enough in the middle to be comfortable.

Looking inside once more, to see the bag finally empty, I put everything back inside as neat as possible in the order I had taken them out in. Well, as best as I could anyhow. I wasn't the best at packing, especially with these new claws of mine to get in the way.

Finished, I finally stood up my hand clasped around the handle of the satchel. I wasn't going to leave it behind seen as there was no one around seemingly. Looking upwards, I tried to see a pathway in the bright light of the morning sun to find my way. Thankfully there in the far, far distance, there was a massive tree, it was far more significant than anything I could see and was distinctively taller than all the rest in this forest. This gave me a shaky direction to follow for the time being.

"Ok feet. Let us go."

Nodding to myself, I slung the satchel over my right shoulder and began my trek towards the giant tree.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_ Nearly a few hours later _ _..._

I pushed through the bushes, trees, various flora and fauna, struggling to get through the somewhat thick undergrowth. Breaking a few vines that had somehow wrapped around my arm and leg, I stumbled into a clearing and brushed down my simple grey clothing that had leaves stuck to them. Green marks had gotten onto the clothing, staining it, while rips had appeared in other places. A largish one had opened down the left side on the trousers. Tutting in annoyance I poked a claw into the opening and pulled at it in vague fascination.

It was then I noticed gentle movement below my fingers, my eyes dropped down below my waist and focused to the place just below my hips. There swaying, curling around my knees was a tail. Not a puffy bushy one, but a sleek, agile tail. My eye twitched, as I traced the silvery coloured fur with my gaze. There was a part of me that just didn't want to acknowledge the existence of such changes to myself. So I closed my eyes, swallowed with a suddenly dry throat and turned my head away to not look upon it again… _even though all my enhanced instincts were now trained on that newly discovered limb_.

Slipping the leather satchel off of my shoulder, I opened the rope ties and took out a water-skin to get a drink. Resting on my hunches for a few long seconds I studied the area I was in to try to get a read on where I was, I felt very out-of-place in this place of nature, natural life and more wildlife.

"Wait. Isn't that...?" I stood upright, a grin breaking out on my face. Yes! I had recognised it...it was the Giant Tree I had seen before. It was just a few more walking paces away, and I would finally reach it. "Excellent. I'm making progress at least."

I was talking to the air. Clearly, I required some companionship of some sort before I went crazy and began talking to the trees.

Then I was off once more, jogging back off into the bush a clear destination in mind once more. The tree was right there, and I was determined to reach it before it got to night time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_ 30 Minutes Later _ _..._

Finally breaking through the last barrier, I grinned, staring up at the biggest tree I had ever seen in my life. Walking up to it and placing a palm on the bark, I could feel some sort of calming sensation coming from the tree, like an aura surrounding this place. It made all my aches and pains ease.

The tree, even as I stared up at it, was massive. Yet if I had reached out with both hands, I wouldn't have been able to touch the sides of the trunk, it was that big.

Stepping back, I circled around the tree, curious eyes tracing the magnificent creation of nature, pretty sure this was the Sacred Tree I had been told to find. Walking further around the base of the tree, I stumbled to a stop, shocked to find a boy… no, a young man tangled up in branches, roots and bark against the trunk of the tree.

My hand tightened around the rope of my satchel, I studied his form a bit more closely, as I moved forward. It was clear then that the young man was in some sort of death-like sleep, which I figured out once I climbed up as careful as I could on the roots near his form and placed my fingers on his neck, concerned he was trapped and unable to escape.

But… there was no _pulse_.

His body was warm, but he did not _breathe_. His heart did not _beat_. He was as dead as someone could be, without crossing over to the other side.

It was then I decided to do something about his situation. Finding a spare branch that was sticking out away from his form, I then hung my satchel on it to keep it out of the way but within reach. Then I jumped down and searched around for a sharp rock, cause I didn't trust my own _claws or strength_ would be strong enough for the task.

Finding what I needed, I set to work. Cutting away the roots, breaking the bark, sawing the branches. I was freeing the young man as much as possible, even though he wasn't awake to appreciate it, it was something I wanted to do. It just didn't seem right leaving him _trapped_ like that, uncared for, alone.

As soon I could see him fully, I stopped to stare for a long couple of seconds. Before reaching forward to run my claws through his hair to tug out any tangles, as my mind went round in circles. Ears… dog ears I think they were. I could be wrong, but that is what they seemed to be, on top of his head, drooped down, looking so sad.

' _At least you look a lot better now_.' Stepping back, I tilted my head to the side seeing him in full profile as the wind blew by and lifted his silver hair, blowing it gently in the wind. Turning I reached out and grabbed my satchel, lifting it down I winced as my cuts pulled, clearly I hadn't been cautious in my trek through the underbrush. Looking back at his form, my eyes travelled to the arrow in his shoulder. I tilted my head for a long moment. 'I'll _come back and make sure I look after you, someone…_ '

A gasp escaped from my mouth. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground. Pain radiated from my leg as a whimpering cry came from my throat. I tried to move my head to shake it from the dizziness. Yet instead, my face was shoved into the dirt as a sharp word was snapped at me. _I didn't understand_!

My arms were already bound behind me when I came back to myself at this point. As for my legs, they were currently in the process of being bound by rope. Out the corner of my eye, I could see what it was that had caught me off guard, a damned arrow. The shaft was still sticking out of my leg, see the arrow shaft had been accidentally broken, probably by my stumbling. The men had wrapped a cloth around the wound to stem the bleeding, but it was rapidly staining red.

I looked away feeling sick, then I felt myself being yanked across the ground, to the laughter of the men who had bound me within the ropes. _Demon,_ they were calling me, **monster** , _killer._ Yet they were the ones treating me like an _animal_. Wincing as I scraped across rocks and sticks, I looked up again just in time to see the sleeping dog boy once more, taking comfort in his peaceful image. Just before a sack was rudely forced down over my head.

An involuntary snarl escaped as they forced the sack over my head, this then forced two fluffy things in front of my vision suddenly, causing an ache to build from the top of my head, which I hadn't known about until this point and this caused me a near breakdown. I had ears, long, fluffy, silver pointed ears that made me realise why my hearing had been so much better since I had awoken in the forest.

I just hoped this was the last of the changes that I was going to find. This was too many to handle at once.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_ Within an Unknown Village _ ...

I could hear them calling someone as I thumped onto wooden planks as I was dropped by the men. Wriggling, I kicked out, crying as I knocked the wound on my leg and caused renewed pain to throb throughout my limb. One of the men yelled as I had clearly caught him with my foot when I kicked. In retaliation, something was cracked down over my prone form on the floor, and I yelped as I scabbed away, to the laughter of the males in the room.

"What ees all thee **ruckus**?!" A female voice, elderly, clearly authoritative if the sudden shameful quiet that had overtaken the room gave any indication.

"Priestess..."

"Qu’et! Ye shuld be ashamed uf yerself. Band’ng thee creature." I lay there on my side, arms still tied behind me. Legs tightly bound together, arms and legs tied together in a harness so the men could drag me to this village wherever it was, middle of nowhere probably.

"But Priestess Kaede, this _Demon_ was at the _Sealed_ _Tree_." I jerked when I felt fingers on the bottom of the sack, loosening the ropes that had stopped me from tossing it off in my furious thrashing. Staying still, the sack was soon taken off, and I blinked adjusting to the dimmer light inside the hut. Turning my head slightly, I clasped eyes upon the Priestess. But other than that stayed still, mainly because I didn't know how many people were around me or where I was.

"There… much better." The elderly lady said with a smile, her brown eyes looked warm and inviting compared to the men, who all looked hostile and volatile. Glancing between her and them, I decided to keep my eyes on her, she felt safer, yet more of a threat. The grey-haired ponytailed woman then reached down and began to undo the binds around my feet.

"Priestess Kaede, It's not safe!"

"The ‘nly thung that ees _nut_ _safe_ ees te b’nd a creature whe shewed te be nee threat un the furst place. Ee bet ye attacked w’theu warnan as well?" The men all looked at each other with shameful expressions.

My eyes were fixated on the men now, as I felt the bonds coming loose on my hands. My fingers twitched, then curled into my palms as I hid a grim smile. Tilting my head down, I let my hair cover my sight, my mind undisturbed by the silver-coloured locks of hair.

Then, that was it, the rope bonds were gone!

I sprang forward like a shot towards the door, ignoring the pain of my leg, I just wanted _OUT_!

A snarl echoed out of my throat as I punched a pair of the men in the stomach to get them out of the way, not wanting to hurt them, but needing them out the way.

"Step thees!" The elderly lady's voice came from behind me, distracting me for a couple of seconds as I glanced back at her. This was enough for a few of the men to wrestle me down, seizing onto my arms and waist. I soon collapsed to the floor on my hands and knees under their weight with a furious snarl.

"Letmego!" I screamed out, tears building as I tugged against their grip ineffectively. Everyone was yelling, then I saw a flash out the corner of my eye, a white glow that vanished into the air. That was the moment when I became too heavy for my own arms and legs to hold my weight and collapsed onto my front.

" **Qu’et**!" Priestess Kaede's voice came. "Ye can let eer ge neh, she ees neh geung anywhere."

The men muttered among themselves, and slowly let me go. I tried to tug ineffectively at my arms and legs, but it was like I weighed far more than my body could ever carry, it had me pinned down. I was _scared_ …

My ears were drooped flat against my skull, as I lay there just breathing, listening, vulnerable.

Then I felt them all suddenly move away, clearly having been signalled by the Priestess to come away from my immobile form for some reason, and then it became clear. The new heaviness finally eased away just at that moment.

I could hear the murmuring within the crowd of people in the hut cease suddenly as I shifted. Moving slowly, I pushed up onto my hands and knees, head still bowed. Teeth were gritted, lips pulled in a silent snarl, as I raised my eyes and viewed the people around me.

Pushing backwards, I slammed into the corner of the room, shaking. Ears flattened, while my tail curled around my legs which I pulled up into my chest. Curling my arms into my chest, I felt something there that was not there before and curling a fist into it jerking the item outwards. It didn't budge from my neck. Instead, all it did was yank my neck and head forward suddenly. I was then hit with a horrifying thought.

I had been collared.

Tears built and slid down my face as I sat there staring into nothingness.

So this was how my first night in this strange land was to pass. A collared slave...what, a, day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_End Prologue…_


	2. Chapter 1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
I had been part of this village for about a month now.

I had decided to care for the dog eared boy I had found in the forest every day I could, to get away from that...place. Combing his hair, brushing dirt out of his clothes and chopping the bark and roots down around his body to keep them from overgrowing him again. All to keep my mind off of my current...situation I was trapped in.

"Eet’s safer fur bath thee village and ye ‘f thee beads stay un yer neck." 

"You mean as a slave!" 

“Ef that ees what ye th’nk. Eet ees better thee way. Fur ye uwn sake."

"Damn you… I'm not an animal to collar UP!"

"Heel g’rl." 

"YIPE." A thud was heard, then a whine.

The new decorative necklace of beads, fangs and rope that hung around my neck was stuck there. It couldn't be removed by any means, except by the one who had spelled it there, (though saying that, I didn't believe in magic at first until I had tried to yank the beads off the night before, then I found them well and truly stuck around my neck.). The old lady called Kaede, the Priestess of the small Village, was not budging on the issue. It didn't matter that I wasn't going to hurt or attack the people, they were scared of me, wanted assurance that I wasn't a threat and this was the only way to make me genuinely safe. A slave…

That is what these beads represented. They were placed around those they captured, like prisoners of war or evil demons that could not be stopped and with one word could subdue the target. My fist curled around the beads, holding them against my chest. It had become an unconscious thing for my hand to drift to the fang and wooden beaded necklace, to rub my thumb against it, as though reminding myself that it was there in the back of my mind.

I leaned back against the trunk of the large sacred tree, once again in the clearing of the dog eared boy. Tilting my head back, I rested my head back against his leg, letting my cheek rest against his firerat nu-bakama as I had found out they were called.

My other hand was resting on my own blue scaled crysdrac nu-bakama from the water dragon of the lakes of the south. Soft cloth underclothing was tucked inside, this helped to soften the weight of the crsydrac kariginu that I had pulled onto my upper body, and tied shut with the obi around my waist.

After the state I had been in when the village men had dragged me in, bleeding, bruised, dusty and dirty, she sent them away and got me bathed and bandaged…forcefully, with help from the woman. Then, with the issue of my memory, a schedule had been drawn up. I was to help around the village, to show I was no threat, to earn trust. I was to learn to read and write from the Priestess Kaede and no arguing!

My ears drooped against my skull as I lay my head against my folded arms, I was resting them on a raised root as I leant against the arrow pinned young man. Tilting my head back, I stared up at him, sadness coursing through me. Then pushing myself upright, I stood face to face with him. I hid my coming here every day, it was my secret safe place to get away from the glares. The whispers that they thought I could not hear. The stones and rotten food they threw at me. The hisses of vile words they spat me. It all hurt… Reaching out, I cupped his face. Then I drew my other hand down his face with the knuckles of the other hand. "How I wish I could dream like you," I whispered, my lips trembling. Blinking, I reached up and curled a hand into my face. I could feel the wetness. "Damn it." I collapsed into him. My fingers clenched into his fire rat kariginu. I leaned into his chest as I buried my face. "How I hate this place..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Several Hours Later:

It was the breaking of branches and muttering that woke me from my gentle slumber. I blinked open my eyes from where I had curled myself into his side. My tail was curled around my bare feet, leather satchel next to them, one hand still gripping tightly to his fire rat kariginu. Blinking up at him, my ears flattened in embarrassment as a hand lifted up to rub the back of my neck as I let go. "Thank you, even if you can't hear me." 

My ears twitched towards the right, and my head turned in that direction. I stared eyes narrowing, then I darted towards a tree on the opposite side, leather satchel held in my left hand. Leaping upwards, I gripped with my right hand and bare feet to climb the tree, scrabbling up the trunk, I settled upon a thick branch and watched the clearing from where I had just come from.

There, out from the other side, just from the place I had moved from, a human female suddenly stumbled out of the forest undergrowth in the exact same direction I had come from. My ears perked upright as I straightened up silently, a hand settling down to rest in front of me on the branch as I shifted forward to get a better look.

I couldn't get a good read on her, but I could see she had bluish-black hair to mid-back, her skin was tanned from what I could see (legs, hands, face), and she looked very, very lost. She was staring around the clearing with baffled and scared bright blue eyes. Her clothing was… was extremely weird, yet familiar. I wanted to put a hand to my head, I had a headache. But for some reason, I knew her clothing type, yet all the people I had seen in the last month had never worn her variety of clothing before. But I knew of it! I growled to myself, closing my eyes as my pounding headache increased. This memory loss was horrible, every time I was faced with something I knew, it just filled me with a sense that I had lost something dear to me, and it hurt.

Opening my eyes once more, I caught the girl staring at the dog eared boy, and I felt something twist into place like this was meant to happen. As though a story was beginning. But there was another part of me, a piece that was ruled by my new found instincts, that was possessive over the male I had been caring for over a month.

Watching from my perch, I saw her climb up the roots at the base of the tree and go up to him. Staring at him again, she then reached out and tweaked his ears… tweaked his ears?! Who? Who does that? Who goes up to a sleeping person and goes I'm gonna tweak ya ears, twitch, twitch. My eye twitched. Fingers dug into the bark, I was not happy with the way she was treating his sleeping body. Different or not, you don't go up to someone and just grab their extremity's, come on… 

I watched her let go, shoulders fall before she straightened up and turned partially away, still staring at the pinned young man. My fingers relaxed as she pulled away from him.

"Hey, you! Get away from there!" My body jerked backwards slamming into the trunk of the tree, I gripped it instinctively eyes wide, as the twang of the strings of the bows and the young females scream intermingled. I shifted from my crouching position and darted out of my hiding spot, teeth bared. Reaching her position, I stopped and turned to stare down the village men, who looked back with wild and scared eyes. "It's the demon."

I glared at them, before turning to look back at the teenager to check she was alright and was glad to see she had gotten back on her feet. She looked back at me with wide eyes, fingers clasped together. "Thank you. Hey! You have ears too!" She then tried to reach out towards my own ears which flattened in response. I hopped away, which was more of a jump and was at least halfway across the clearing. Ears flat, eyes wide, hands clenched.

Then the village men laughed. "Look at the animal run from a woman." Next thing he knew, he was rolling across the ground, his cheek throbbing in pain. Shaking my head, I stormed off. Entering into the forest, I followed the path of broken shrubbery and branches trying to calm my temper down.

I soon came out into another clearing, much larger than the one the Sacred Tree resided in, in this one was a wooden square with a hole in the ground. Stopping at the edge of the clearing, the fur and hair on my body stood on end. Sidling into the shadows, I watched, then spotted something shooting out of the pit and into the forest opposite me. I couldn't see what it was, but it was fast. Swallowing, I nodded to myself, instincts were screaming to flee. I may not have liked the Priestess and her Mako magicks, but whatever this was, I had a feeling they were going to be needed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Reaching Kaede's Village…

Exiting out of the forest, I began my trek through the village, keeping my head down, though my ears could instantly hear the whispers that followed in my wake. Though this time it wasn't about my presence, tilting my head, I listened as the woman and men talked about the weirdness of the stranger. How much they looked like the Original Priestess, that they must have been brought back as her reincarnation to bless them against the demon forces.

Hurrying along, I soon reached Priestess Kaede's hut and pushed aside the beads on the door to get inside. I stopped abruptly, nearly tripping over the young teenager in the inappropriately short clothing. She was sitting just inside the door with a bowl of stew in her lap. “Ah F’x,returned have ye fram yer run?." I bowed my head, face carefully blank. "Ye see anyth’ng un yer travels?"

"Yes. I did." Kaede's left eye focused on my own golden blue as she nodded at the ground beside her as she scooped more of the food into another bowl. A frown appeared on my face as I sat down cross-legged, knowing that it had been more a command than a request. "Then speak..."

Leaning forward to take the bowl offered, but knowing that I had to give the message before eating any food… like a dog who had been trained to bark before eating food, I put the bowl in my lap and looked back up at Kaede. "I went through the woods and came to clearing twice the size of the Sacred Tree. Within this clearing was a Wooden Square pit, the fur and hair on the back of my neck stood up suddenly, out of the pit something fast escaped into the forest beyond. I don't know what it was. But it certainly made my skin crawl." Lifting my bowl, I took a drink, ignoring the food for the moment, my mouth was dry after that.

"Eet s’unds luke ye faund the Bune Eaters Well."

The voice echoed in my mind again. It seemed all the pieces had now come into play. But now what… why that place? Why the tree? And why the boy with the ears who was pinned to the tree? What was it about him that drew me to him? Biting into a bit of the meat, I hid my smile when I found it mostly raw. Seems Kaede had slipped in some uncooked pieces to try to bridge the gap and broaden my diet. Mainly cause my hunting wasn't the best, and the villagers didn't like me eating raw foods in front of them.

"So, who are you?" I stopped, blinking I lowered my bowl. Shifting it to my lap, I grabbed a spare cloth piece, wiping my face and hands. Then I narrowed my eyes at the other younger female, my instincts telling me all at once, now I was in the same distance as Kaede that both humans were precisely the same in terms of power type.

"Fox..." She straightened, holding her own bowl, confusion overtaking her features and her brow furrowed. Then I realized I had spoken too quietly. "Call me fox."

"Fox, huh?" The teen gently smiled. "Pleasure to meet you. I'm Kagome Higurashi."

"So, what are you?" My ears flattened as I just stared at the ground, lips pressed together tightly.

"She ees a K’ksune Deman." Spoke Kaede with a no-nonsense tone.

"Mind your own business Priestess!" I snarled before turning away. Placing my bowl down carefully, I stood up and wandered over to the door, leaning against it arms crossed. Sighing, I shifted the beads and stepped outside once more. Looking upwards, I tensed my thighs and leapt up onto the roof. Sitting down, I looked up at the clouds my hands behind me to let me lean on them as I sighed into the air. "Damn it." Then that's when the crunching, crashing sound came. A building in the distance suddenly collapsed to the ground. Getting up onto my feet, I stared uncomprehendingly. "What the?"

"Take it down!"

"It's too Strong!"

"Monster!"

"Someone tell the Priestess!"

"HELP!" That last one got me moving. Darting off, I sped into the falling debris. There, cowering was hurt woman and her child, grabbing them I darted out of there just before they would have been crushed. Landing back by Kaede's hut, I ushered them inside just as the Priestess and Kagome came outside.

Then the ground shook as the building next to us seemed to explode. Grabbing the two, I covered both with my armoured scaled body. I was thankful Kaede had gotten me into this crysdrac robe now as it was protecting me from the worst of any cuts, bruises, on the other hand, seemed to be normal. Straitening up we were faced with a half centipede, half-woman creature. The top half had long black hair, sharp talons, fang-like teeth that looked like they could tear chunks out of whatever they clamped into. Clearly, this was a predator. Her black irises were fixated on Kagome.

"It's that thing!" Kagome's voice had risen in pitch. She was pointing up at the centi-woman with wide eyes, clearly freaked out by the whole demon thing, no matter how calm she had been in the hut.

"Move!" I pushed them both back as the centi-woman through a horse at us, it landed with a squeal kicking before lying still.

"Give me the Sacred Jewel..." Her voice was a vicious hiss.

Jerking backwards as the demon came for us, Kagome and I yelped, as we fell over each other and landed on the ground with a squelch. "Ewwww!" Said Kagome with a cry even as the centi-woman shrieked in anger above our heads. I just looked at her with raised eyebrows, "You really don't get how much danger we are in, do you?"

"Eet Sayd Sacred Jewel, Bare eet ye st’ll?" Kaede looked down at Kagome with a stern and worried frown. But the young girl only blinked with a disgusted grimace, as she tried to brush some of the dirt off of her skirt.

"I've only heard stories about the jewel." She replied.

"I must have the Sacred Jewel! I must..." Both our attention was taken back to the fight, as the twanging of the villager's bows were heard, and the vicious hiss came from the demon above our heads. We ducked again as arrows bounced off and came close to shooting us instead. Watching I saw the centipede lady go after the men clearly irritated at the pinpricks of annoyance they were shooting at it, though I had to look away when she caught a man in her mouth and clamped down. You can imagine what happened with those dagger-like teeth. Looking back at Kagome, I could see she had shut her eyes from the sight. Her hands were also covering her face from the view too. My ears drooped at this introduction, the blue-black haired girl had to this land.

"Spears. Arrows. Nothing works!" Were the words the men spoke as they ran up to the three of us. Stepping away from them, I instead stared in the direction of the forest, drawing up a plan in my mind.

"Fox." Turning my attention to Kagome, I nodded. "We must lure it to the dry well."

"The Bone Eater's Well?" She nodded. "You know the way?"

"Yes. Go towards the light." Kagome said with a smile.

Making a decision, I picked her up bridal style and bolted for the trees as she shrieked in my ears. "Shush. Just tug in the direction we need to go." I whispered.

Instead, what I got was a smack on the side of my head. "Don't grab me like that!"

"Quiet! If you don't want us to be followed." I growled, following the tugs of my sleeve through the darkened forest. Thankful my night vision was better than my day vision, this looked just like day to me, except with moonlight.

"Excuse you. I shall not be quiet!" Argued back Kagome scowling. Her focus was still on that light thankfully, and we were getting through the forest, but man we were making such a racket with this stupid argument.

"The Sacred Jewel. Give it to me!" We shrieked both of us gripping each other as the ground seemed to vanish and we went flying into the air. Flipping over and over, I soon lost my grip on Kagome and landed on the ground. Groaning, I turned over onto my side feeling a little sick. Opening my eyes, I realized we had reached the clearing of the Sacred Tree. Smiling a little at reaching at least the halfway point, I winced as I pushed myself up onto my hand and knees.

"Hello, Kikyo, playing with bugs now are we?" My ears twitched. Lifting my head, I followed the motions trying to find that new voice. Staggering up onto my feet, arm curled around my middle, I began my trek forward.

"Why you taking so long to kill it? Just do it like you did me?!" Finally coming close I blinked in surprise, there was Kagome on the ground below staring up, clearly more and more annoyed at the dog eared boy pinned to the tree. Yet the boy, who was in a deathly sleep, never breathing, never moving or his heart breathing. He was awake and alive. I stood there with wide eyes. Thus, of course, he was going to notice among his picking on this, who was it, Kikyo person, which he had clearly mistaken Kagome for.

"What is this Kikyo?" His voice had turned into a growl. "Not only did you kill me. You replaced me with another demon." The dog boy sneered. I leaned my head back, ears flattening.

"Excuse me?" I questioned. A little bit confused.

"You better be careful with this one. She'll pretend to care. Then, when your guard is down. Betray you and kill you."

Kagome stood up, her hands on her hips. "That does it."

"Kikyo. Kikyo." She walked up to the roots and pulled herself up onto them. Walking her way carefully up them towards his prone body. "Whoever she is, I'm not her! She is not me because my name is…."

"Look out!" I darted forward. I pushed her against the boy, squishing them together as I stared over my shoulder. Thankfully the village men had been able to actually get arrows into centi-woman's hide this time and pull her away before she could attack our distracted forms. "Too close..."

I straightened up, while Kagome who had fallen to the ground once more was holding a hand to her chest in reaction smile up at me. "Thanks, Fox." I bobbed my head up and down, stepping away, I made sure to tighten the strap around my waist and shoulder, worried it would fall off if something happened.

"You're pathetic Kikyo. Being saved by a demon." Came the dog boys words again.

"I'm not Kikyo!" I just kept on wondering how long this was going to last. The reality was undoubtedly different from the sleeping mystery that had been taunting me for the past month. Part of me wanted to go back to that, the other wanted to know this new character on the playing field.

"Look I'm telling you, I'm not her!" Kagome was now yelling at him full force face to face. "Whoever she is!"

Of course, the dog eared boy still wasn't letting go of his point. "And I'm saying you got to be her cause if your not there's no way you could smell so..." Then he went quiet. I could hear him taking in several deep breaths, the type for scenting, not smelling, breaths. "You're not her."

"I know. My name is Kagome. Ka-go-may." She did a little formal bow.

"You're right. Kikyo's cuter, much cuter." He snorted.

I narrowed my own eyes at him. "That's a little rude, don't you think?"

"Who you?" He growled back.

"The hell shall I tell you? You're no ~Alpha over me." I shook my head, turning my face away, ignoring the deepening growl I was getting. It was then it all went to hell. I didn't have time to vocalize. The centipede lady could be incredibly quick if she wanted to be, and clearly, she wanted me out the way. With those two focused on each other, she hooked those sharp-clawed feet into me and yanked me into the trees within an instant. Clearly, the village men's arrow and rope combo hadn't been able to keep her busy for long.

Then she attacked. Slashing, slashing, slashing. Biting, ripping, tearing. A high pitched yelping crying came from my throat as I thrashed in her grip. Clawed hands raked upwards trying to escape her tight hold. Blood splattered the ground as I felt my throat tear, where she embedded her teeth suddenly. Another yelping cry of my demon fox came from my throat as instinct flared. Then suddenly fire… everywhere. It spread over my body, and the centipede lady let go with a horrific hiss before she sped back towards the clearing.

Gasping, I lay there for a long few seconds. Fingers twitched coated a vibrant red, as I tried to make my limbs work. It was like my head had been cut off from the rest of my body. Then I slowly shifted my hand towards my satchel. Reaching it, I pushed inside and gripped the first cloth items I could, thankfully, it was some type of clothing. Bringing it out, I then forced myself up into a sitting position, ignoring the blood running in streams down my neck. Using the cloth, I placed it against the wound and tightened it. Yelping as the pain became worse for along moment. Then I stayed there for a long moment. "Ka-go-me," I whispered.

Staggering upright, I looked down at my blue armour covered in red. My body was fine, but my neck, as I had found out, was vulnerable. I was going to have to get something to protect it if I didn't want someone to go after such a prominent weak spot in the future. Panting, I staggered forward, ignoring the still streaming lines of red down my scales of my crysdrac. Finally making back to the Sacred Tree clearing, I leaned against one of the trees to not only to see the current situation but to let my spinning head settle, I was getting terribly light-headed.

"I heard some Half-Demon spawn was after the Sacred Jewel, it's you isn't it?" From what I could see, the centipede had curled her tail around the tree and crushed Kagome against the dog boy.

"Half's all I need to kick your scaly hide! Anything more than that would be a waste of my time!" The demon lady through her head back and laughed and laughed. "What the hell is so funny?!"

I leaned onto the tree shaking, one hand clamped against my neck. Taking a shaking step forward away from the support, as I pulled a branch down to peer into the clearing though a gap in the leaves of the somewhat dense undergrowth.

"Oh, how that pitiful Kitsune halfling would not agree with you Half-Breed, as I tore into her flesh and left the little vulpine dying in the dirt."

Kagome's face went pale. Then she looked up at the white-haired boy with intense eyes. "Look you talk big, but can you back it up?"

"What can he do pinned there like that? Or feel for that matter? You are powerless to stop me!" The creature grinned with sharp teeth. "You're powerless both of you." Slowly she lowered down, her face inches away from a glowing ball on the ground. The males face was furious, golden eyes wild as he snarled back at her. Making my decision, I let go of my throat and pushed though the bushes. I darted out and swiped, catching the centipede off guard, my claws slicing right into the flesh of her face just before she swallowed the glowing ball. With a shriek, she went crashing back into the trees, her face bleeding. Wheezing I grasped at my throat as red coated my front. "Well.. this... was a... bad idea."

"What happened to you!" Kagome yelled in fright, blue eyes wide as the teen pushed up onto shaky legs.

"Pri-ori-ties. Ka-go-me. Free. Him." I coughed, falling to my hand and knees. My left was still clamped around my throat. "Will. Need. The. Help."

Of course, it wasn't that easy, with a crack I was punted across the clearing by the centi-lady by her tail, and of course, she still got the glowing ball I had protected from her. Lying there, I felt angry, knowing that being distracted just in that instance had cost me dearly, and now I was bleeding out severely from my neck. My healing factor was kicking in, but it would still take many hours, even overnight to close and at least a few days to heal fully.

Growling, I forced myself up onto my hands and feet and surveyed what was happening.

"Inuyasha?" I heard faintly, looking over, I blinked surprised. It seemed in a short time I had been out of it, Kagome had finally used her ability to free… did she call him Inuyasha?

It was a short battle after that. Both sides threw insults around, then the dog eared boy, Inuyasha decimated the centi-lady before blowing her to pieces. Then Kagome looked over the parts of centipede lady before bending over with grimace and picking something out of the corpse. The carcass just slowly vanished into smoke after that as though it never truly existed. 

Staring upwards at the disappearing smoke, I felt myself partially relax, or as much as I cloud relax around the villagers. The crunching of grass and rocks underfoot drew my attention. I turned to see Kagome walking over. She sat next to me with a concerned and tired look. "You look awful."

"Tha..." I started to say in a sarcastic tone, but my voice cut out halfway. Frowning I gripped my throat again as I shifted uncomfortably, tail twitching. Blood ran from under my fingers, though there was slightly less of it now.

"You got anything to wrap that in your bag?" She questioned. I nodded, leaning forward and allowing her to lift the satchel off my shoulder. She reached inside, searching and soon enough found some cloth strips that I had carefully torn apart. Lifting my hand from the wound, Kagome with a sick look wrapped my throat tightly. "There, until Kaede gets here, this should hold you."

I just smiled, my eyes getting heavy.

Then Kagome looked down at the bauble in her lap, lifting it to view it in the sunlight. Her brows furrowed with a worried look. "But why would I have a Jewel wanted by demons? Why was it inside my body?"

"Exactly." Hearing Inuyasha’s voice made her scramble up and step away from where I was slumped. It was the cheerful and threatening tone in his voice that instinctively made her want to draw him away from her injured partner. "Human's can't use it so why bother to keep it. If you hand the jewel over right now, I won't have to start sharpening my claws on you."

That was the last thing I remember. I Slipped onto my side and just...fell...asleep…

End Chapter 1


	3. Chapter 2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~******~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Feeling something brush my cheek, I opened my eyes slightly, my blurry eyesight took in the colour red before I closed them once again. Then tugging at my neck jerked me out of my unconscious state in an instance. With an impressive snarl, I lunged forward, trying to get away from the pain. Almost instantly, I was pinned down by two arms of immense strength against my back. My feet and hands scrabbled at the ground, trying desperately to pull away from the pain as my wound opened back up. I was chocking on blood again, coughing I felt the liquid splatter down onto my chest coating my arms and chest red.

It was then I was gathered up into that pair of strong arms, as that male voice cursed everyone else away while snarling at them. My eyes started to close as I drooled red spittle down my chin, shaking in pain. My head was butted backwards, then I felt claws hold my head against a knee carefully. Blinking blearily, I heard that male voice growl at me to not sleep. Gasping and whining as I batted at the voice as the makeshift bandages around my neck were sliced away. The male huffed and easily deflected my weak attempts to push him away. It was then I felt the first soothing sensation across the gashes in my neck. I felt my arms were let go and my head was angled the other way as the soothing feeling moved to the other side, my lips parted as I felt my body slowly relax as the pain eased.

Opening my eyes slightly, I watched as that white-headed male bent down and licked across the top of my wound, his eyes mostly closed. As I felt each time he went across my neck, it slowly helped my own body form the scabbing process much faster. I then let my eyes slide shut and slipped back into sleep once more.

\--------------------------------------------  
A few Hours Later…

I came to curled up on my left side, I had a blanket covering me that fell onto my lap as I slowly sat up. Lifting a hand, I slowly pressed it to my neck and hissed a breath in surprise at the lack of pain I felt when I pressed gently on the still sensitive but decently healing skin. "So it wasn't a dream…" I quietly said to myself. Pushing myself upright into my feet, I wobbled and nearly fell, thankfully the wall was there to stop me from landing spectacularly on my face. Using the wall as a support, I moved over to the water bowl in the corner and slid myself down so I could use my reflection in the candlelight to see how healed I looked. I might have increased healing, but it was not that quick, I should have been dead.

It was there in my reflection that I saw it. Pink marks where the gashes in my skin had been. They had clearly been very very deep, but now they looked like they had been nothing more dangerous than maybe a paper cut, it was quite disconcerting. I lifted up a finger and traced one, watching it indent into my skin fascinated. Blinking I let my hand drop, my eyes tracing the rest of my features. I wasn't a beauty by any means. Largish nose, medium-sized mouth with small lips. Curved eyes instead of slanted like most people that lived around these parts, this made them wary of me, not including the colour of my eyes, which was a golden-blue.

My hair was white in colour or silver if you want to get technical. It fell just over my shoulders and down my back in messy waves, just long enough to be put into a tail. My ears were long, and when they drooped, they could almost touch my shoulders. Both my tail and ears were the same colour as my hair. Last but not least down my back was a thin layer of fur so small it was invisible, it was white in colour, so it blended with my pale skin, this went from my hairline down to my feet.

Looking away my eyes traced over the doorway on the far side, licking dry lips I pushed myself up onto my feet with both hands and then steadied myself against the wooden wall as my balance was shaky at best. Carefully stepping over the various objects in the low light, I slowly picked my way to the door and slid the beaded cover silently as I could to the side to peer out into the gloom of the main room. My ears flicked with indecision, but then the smell of my own body made me move. I desperately needed a wash, no matter how weak I felt, the blood scent was far too strong for my nose. My fingers curled into the necklace of beads and fangs on my chest as nerves slightly got the better of me.

One thing I had been thankful for, as I had gotten used to my enhanced senses over the last month, was the night vision. Like a cat, my slit pupils opened up wide to take in any light available and allowed me to see like it was similar to daytime, with whitish overtones of course. Everything gained a glow, living things were brightest, with plants being the faintest. It was very, very pretty, like a silver painting and it was something I had found I could spend hours just enjoying in the dead of night.

With using this enhanced sense of sight, and my sense of smell, slowly, I moved through the main room and was able to creep over the two sleeping females. The elder Kaede was by the fire-pit, lying on a mat of straw and wool. The younger...Kagome was it? She was by the step, down towards the main door out into the village. Using the wall, I stepped over them, trying to ghost my way out of there, similar to a dog's silent steps.

Finally, I reached the doorway. Sighing I shifted the cover aside just a bit and slipped under it, not wanting to disturb them after all that effort of trying to keep the two asleep. Letting the cover drop I turned away from the door and smiled slightly, glad to have gotten away. Stretching my arms above my head, I winched and jerked my arms back by my sides, 'Ok, no stretching quite yet, the muscles are still quite a bit sore.' My ears twitched listening out for any movement in the village, but other than the rustle of the grass as wildlife moved through the bush, it was quiet. Then with a nod to myself, I darted off jogging in the direction of the river, where it mas most overcast by trees and bushes.

Above, on the hut of the Priestess Kaede, a shadow rose up. Then standing up, leapt into the air, disappearing into the shadows in the same direction the fox had just run off in. 

\-----------------------------------  
By the River…

Wriggling through the undergrowth, I gave a sigh of relief when the river came into sight. It had been a longer journey to the riverside than the usual route the Priestess Kaede had shown me. For I had gone further upstream to the large overgrown portions of the riverbank to obscure any early risers from the village who may accidentally oversee me. I had begun doing this after the first time a human had walked in on me bare within the water, vulnerable. If Kaede had not come by, the human who had pinned me would have found what an uncontrolled fox indeed looked like, when given over to the anger and blood-lust.

Finally, within my safe haven, I spotted the branch that stuck out and carefully untied my clothing and armour. Taking it off piece by piece, I hung them up, all except my boots which I left under the branch and waded carefully into the water. My arms were still curled around my ribs to keep them in place due to the sore muscles.

Thankfully there was another secret to this small piece of river, it connected to an underwater hot spring so had the benefit of being quite warm. My muscles instantly relaxed, and the faint throbbing in my shoulders slightly eased as the warm water helped with the soreness. Breathing out with a small smile, my ears drooped in relaxation as I waded over to a flat stone, just the right height to sit upon, and settled upon it. The water rushed by me, massaging into the muscles. Stretching, I grimaced as pain still ran through me. Tilting my head upwards, I stayed still just enjoying the water with my eyes shut.

Then the rustling of leaves had my eyes shooting open, and my head snapping up. Sliding off the rock, I darted off into the thick bushes that grew into over the water, obscuring myself from view. An armoured figure moved into view, clearly quite curious why there was a bunch of clothes and unique armour pieces left at the side of the river. 

I could feel my ears lie flat against my skull as the muscles reacted in irritation as the man lifted up those underclothes of mine and then gave a perverted grin. "Come out, come out, little miss." He held my undergarments into the air as he embedded his sword into the earth. "You don't want these to go missing now, would you? Come to me little miss, and I'll keep you safe from the demon's who roam these lands." I didn't see any way of getting my clothes without him seeing me. My fingers tightened on the branch as I made a decision. Then snorting with annoyance, made my way out into the middle of the river, determined to mostly ignore the idiot. 

As I came into view, the man stopped and stared for a long second. Clearly, he was expecting a young girl, not me. Staring back at him for a long second, I sighed and looked away walking back into the middle of the river. Sitting back on the rock I had vacated before, looked upwards to watch the stars, while also keeping an ear on the human behind me. Then the sound of a squelch was heard. Clearly, the man had taken up his sword again. 

Turning only my head to look over one shoulder at him, the human stopped eyes and mouth open wide, for at that moment the moon had broken the treeline above, shining onto the river, illuminating the area and myself. This gave my hair a glow in the light, seeming to shine with white light. "Dratted demon, playing with my feelings. Gonna kill ya." The man was muttering, looking shaken and unsteady. He took several steps forward, clearly intending to come over and use his weapon. This made me nervous, and I felt myself tense up slightly. If he came any closer to me, I would leave towards the other side and hide in the tree-tops.

Then a flash of red and white, a clawed hand gripped the unfortunate man around the neck and lifted him up into the air, as a furious growl echoed into the air the taller dog demons face furious. "You dare to perve on a Bitch and then threaten to kill her? It's no wonder I hate humans." 

"Please, don't kill me!" The man whimpered, feet kicking in the air. 

The male demon lowered the man's face close to his own with a savage grin. "You're lucky, next time I won't be so lenient if I find you in my territory again." Then he tossed the man to the side, ignoring the branches that broke where the human had disappeared into the forest. "Good riddance." Looking down at the clothes scattered on the ground, crouched down and began to gather them up. "You shouldn't have wandered away from the village. It's not safe, especially when you haven't finished healing." Gathering them up into a pile in his arms stood up. "Come out, I'll take you back." 

"Are you sure you want me out the water? I'm not exactly decent." I crossed over slowly, one hand covering my chest as I came to the rivers edge.

"Just move your ass and get ou..." For a long moment, both of us met eyes before the male turned around sharpish, the males cheeks were red as he dropped the clothes in front of me. "Sorry." Ears flattened as his shoulders hunched. "Shoulda told me your ass was right in fucking front of me." 

Rolling my eyes, I heaved myself out with a sigh and sat on the edge, my back towards him. "Like I didn't already say that when I told you, I wasn't decent." Standing, I began to pull on the robe that I had thankfully left here last time, there were two of them usually kept within the hollow of trees, but this one had been knocked down with throwing the man into the trees. Having the robe over my arms, I stopped with an audible hiss, eyes flickering partially closed as my neck gave a nasty throb as the healing skin disliked the rough handling. Holding the robe around my chest, I stood with my head lowered and lip bitten to ride out the sensation. 

Opening my eyes, I jolted as two narrowed golden eyes met my own. My own ears flattened, the male looked furious. Gripping my arms over where they clutched my robe, he forced me harshly back against the tree. A lighter angry growl escaped my throat at this rough handling, as I wriggled to escape, but he just used one hand to grip both of my own in his. Clearly, my arms were somewhat smaller than his. 

The dog demons other hand, gripped my chin firmly and forced me to lift my head upwards, straining the healing muscles. My growl rose in pitch with a whine built-in, and in response, a lower-pitched growl escaped from his throat, it felt much more dangerous. Goosebumps prickled my skin in reaction, and I fell silent. Then a sigh escaped from his throat. "You've broken the skin again, idiot bitch. It ain't ready for normal movement yet. I'll have to fix it afresh, your healing ability's shit." 

He leaned down beyond my view, while his clawed fingers shifted to make sure I couldn't move. I could then feel him licking my neck in long broad strokes, making the pain ease, and the area which I hadn't noticed being torn began to sting a lot less. Eventually, he stopped, all I could see was his ears which flicked back and forth in consideration before he let my chin go. A little blood was on the side of his mouth that soon got licked away. "Don't try to mess up the healing again, I won't help ya in future." 

Irritation ran through me, I hadn't asked for this males help! "Well, I didn't ask you to come and start ministering care. Next time don't bother!" I bared my teeth in defiance, a silent snarl.

His eyes narrowed in annoyance. Lip lifting to show a sharp canine before closing his eyes and snorting at the picture I showed. "Ya bitch can't do much of anything in this state. Clearly, you've had no training, no instincts to grow." He then looked serious as he pinned me with his golden gaze. "I don't know how ya survived, to be fucking honest." 

I snapped at him, teeth inches from his nose, but the demon didn't even flinch. "I don't need an alpha's help. I'm fine, bugger off." My eyes narrowed at his expression, I didn't know what he was thinking. I didn't like it.  
In a sharp movement that I didn't see, but definitely felt, he had my head twisted back up, claws threatening to dig into my neck and face. While his teeth gripped firmly hold of my neck, threatening to rip it apart. 

I froze, staring up at the slowly lightening sky. 'Oh, dawn is coming.' It was a random thought, but I was panicked and didn't know how to combat the situation. Then at the same moment, he let go with both hands and teeth and let me drop to the ground. I sank to the floor, on my knees, heart pounding in my chest. His hand came into my vision and lifted my gaze to meet his own solemn one. "I'm not trying to take your freedom damn it. I just want to make sure ya survive."

Standing up, Inuyasha then walked over and picked up the discarded clothing as I watched. "Would've thought the battle yesterday would be proof ya can't take care of yourself. And the way ya just froze is not a good sign, you'll get both yourself and others killed looking after ya backside." He gathered the pile into one arm, walking back and standing in front of me. Holding out a hand, I frowned considering him for moment before reaching up and allowing him to pull me to my feet. I turned away, carefully slipping my arms into the sleeves of the robe, before straightening it up properly. Turning back to face him, I scowled. "I see your point. I will follow your lead until I feel I'm ready." 

With a smirk, he nodded his head back in response. turning began to lead towards the village, hands slipped into his long sleeves. "By the way." He remarked. "What's ya name?"

I blinked. That was true, neither of us knew each other at all, did we. Tilting my head to look at the dog demon, who watched with a relaxed smile. "Names Silvi Fox." 

A silver eyebrow raised in response along with a now amused grin. "Ya name truly spells..."

"Silver Fox, I know. Ignore the coincidence. And you?" I just wanted off this subject. 

"Inuyasha." 

"Well, you can't poke fun at me for having a literal name, buddy," I said jabbing back at the fact that his name meant dog demon, literally. A snort from his amused face as he turned back to the pathway the demon male was making in the forest was my only answer. I slowly followed, looking over his shorter silver furred ears that sat on top of his head similar to mine, above where human ears would have been. Long silver hair down to his hips, swayed in time with sure footsteps. Looking away, I just concentrated on following, knowing it was going to take a little while until we got back to the village.

\------------------------------------------  
A Little While Later…

"Help!" Sitting up, I tilted my head, listening. It had been a few hours now, and Inuyasha had vanished after leading me back to the village. When we had returned, he gained an urgent look in his eye's as suddenly he glanced around and his ears twitched. Clearly, the more experienced male was able to see, smell or instinctively sense something going on. The dog demon asked me to, "Stay here, I'm gonna check something out." before leaping back off into the forest, with a mutter, “I don’t care if she wanders off, but she took the Jewel with her...”

Listening, I dressed in my clothes and armour before settling on top of one of the buildings. Then I waited. See when the two of us had gotten back, the sun had risen by that point, plenty of villagers were around, and the priestess could be seen within the distance. But Kagome, the new girl, was missing. This I was reasoning, was probably why Inuyasha had gone off to find her. 

"Please, my Son's in the water!!" The shout caught my attention, standing up, I jumped from the roof towards the river, clearing two other homes and landing on another home just overlooking the rushing rapids. "He can't swim!" Finally, I saw what had happened. A young lad had fallen from one of the bridges was struggling to keep his head above water. He was coughing as arms splashed ineffectively trying to swim. 

Leaping off the top of the building into the water I saw two things. One was Kagome arriving on the scene upon Inuyasha's back for some reason, holding a bow and quiver of arrows, another was the lad had sunk under the water. Paying no attention to anything else, I dived to the sound of "Idiot Bitch!" evidently meaning I was doing strenuous things again, when I was told to rest with my healing wound. 

Seeing the child still moving and reaching up to me, I swam down and grabbed hold. We were near the bottom of the riverbed, and I found a freaky sight. A crowfoot was attached to the boy's clothes. Frowning, I detached the foot and held it firmly in one hand, feeling creeped out by the way it was trying to squirm, wriggle and claw its way out of my grip. With my other arm around the lad's waist, I swam quickly up to the surface. Thankfully, he hadn't been down there long. The boy began coughing and crying after we broke the surface. Ignoring the crowd talking, I swam over to the side and helped the child up with help from other people. 

Then, with a yelp, I got yanked out. Dumped down onto the ground I looked up to see very unimpressed golden eyes looking down on me. "Stupid. Idiot." Before yelling at Kagome, who was trying to reassure the worried looking villagers. “Hey, it’s getting away!” 

"Wait." The girl's voice came from beside me as she yanked the foot of the crow out of my grip, that I had untangled from the boy's clothes. "I can use this." The next thing we knew fired an arrow with the foot tied to it. "The foot will return to the body." 

The dog demon scowled. "Why didn't you just rest? That wound will not heal with the constant stunts you keep putting it through. You are fucking fragile, deal with it."

"Scuse me?"

The dog demon's eyes narrowed. "You heard me. You need to rest."

"I can't just sit around when others are in trouble." I just got a glare in response, his arms shifting to slide up long sleeves.

An eep caught both of our attention. Turning to look at Kagome, I blinked at her worried face, it was then I realized a bizarre pink light as overtaking the sky. “That light, where’s it coming from?” Kagome asked, fingers tight around the bow. 

Shifting to look upwards, I stared. Streams of light went in every direction, thousands of them, all from the body...of a crow. 

It contorted in agony as those pink lights flew from it. Until it had disintegrated into nothing, but a head, which then flew back down to earth. It headed straight for the human teenager who gave a shriek in response. The bow in her hand held in front of her for defense. Inuyasha moved quickly, slashing the undead shrieking thing. As it fell apart, my eyes caught a gentle pink glow of a crystal that fell to the ground. Worry instantly fell into the pit of my stomach, there was a pull towards whatever that was.

“I hope that not what I...” Now the teen’s voice sounded faint.

“What do you think it is?!” The dog demon sounded, angry. Very, very angry. Quietly listening to them both, I reached forward, gently plucking the shard from the ground. Sitting back, I just stared. So, so tiny, yet the power within it echoed with each pulse as it glowed. 

“I think this is a shard from the Jewel.” Both pairs of eyes pinned me down as I held up the shard for them to see. 

Inuyasha’s ears flattened in reaction as he clenched his fists. “What did you say!”

Kagome held out a hand under my own and I dropped the shard into her palm, feeling relief to get that powerful object away from me. 

Turning my attention away from the brewing argument beside me, my eyes instead landed upon Kaede who clearly had come at some point when the Jewel had been shattered. Looking up at her my head tilted to the side at her weary face, from where the old Miko stared at the sky. Before she sighed shaking her head with a troubled expression, talking quietly to the men around her. Watching her turn and walk away towards the riverside, I stood and began slowly following behind. Some insight into this whole situation would be very helpful and the priestess would be a valuable source of information.

End Chapter 2


	4. Kaede's A-Z

_ **Kaede’s A-Z of language. No I and O’s** _

A

Anything - anyth’ng

B

Binding – band-ng

Bind – b’nd

Both = b’th

D

Demon - Deman

F

First – furst

For – fur

Fox – f’x

From - frame

G

Go – ge

Going – geung

Girl - g’rl

H

Her – eer

I

Is – ees

I – Ee

In – un

It’s – Eet’s

It - Eet

If - ‘f

K

Kitsune - k’ksune

L

Like - luke

N

Not – neh

No – nee

Now – neh

O

Of – uf

Only - ‘nly

On – un

Own - uwn

Q

Quiet – Qu’et

S

Showed – shewed

Should – shuld

Said – Sayd

Still – St’ll

Sit – Sut

Speak - Speuk

T

To - te

This – thees

Thing – thung

The – thee

Think – th’nk

Twice - Twuce

Y

You – Ye

Your - yer

Yourself - yerself

V

Village- Vullage

W

Who – whe

Without – w’theu

Warning – warnan

**Author's Note:**

> Kaede’s Speech Translation
> 
> "What ees all thee ruckus?!"- What is all this ruckus 
> 
> "Qu’et! Ye shuld be ashamed uf yerself. Band’ng thees creature."- Quiet. You should be ashamed of yourself. Binding this creature.
> 
> "There… much better."- There... much better.
> 
> "The ‘nly thung that ees neh safe ees te b’nd a creature whe shewed te be nee threat un thee furst place. Ee bet ye attacked w’theu warnan as well?"  
> \- The only thing that is not safe is to bind a creature who showed to be no threat in the first place. I bet you attacked without warning as well?
> 
> "Step thees!"- Stop this!
> 
> "Qu’et!" - Quiet
> 
> "Ye can let eer ge neh, she ees neh geung anywhere."- You can let her go now, she is not going anywhere.
> 
> -
> 
> Eet’s safer fur b’th thee vullage and ye ‘f thee beads stay un yer neck. - "It's safer for both the village and you if the beads stay on your neck." 
> 
> ‘f that ees what ye th’nk. Eet ees better thees way. Fur ye uwn sake. - "If that is what you think. It is better this way. For your own sake."
> 
> Heel g’rl - "Heel girl." 
> 
> -
> 
> Ah F’x,returned have ye fram yer run? Ye see anyth’ng un yer travels?  
> \- Ah, Fox returned have you from your run. You see anything on your travels
> 
> Then speak
> 
> Eet s’unds luke ye faund the Bune Eaters Well - It sounds like you found the Bone Eaters Well
> 
> She ees a K’ksune Deman - She is a Kitsune Demon
> 
> Eet Sayd Sacred Jewel, Bare eet ye st’ll? - It said, Sacred Jewel. Bare it ye still


End file.
